Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2018

Coinbase Files for Single-Stock Perpetual Futures, but the CFTC Still Holds the Key

By Isaac • September 22, 2026 3:29 pm • Comments

Coinbase has put its plan for single-stock perpetual futures on paper. That does not mean U.S. traders can use the product yet.

The exchange’s derivatives arm filed a proposed framework for cash-settled contracts tied to individual U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds. The contracts could eventually give traders extended-hours price exposure without delivering any shares.

The key word is could.

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Regulatory approval is still pending, leaving a sharp line between an ambitious filing and a live market.

CryptoSlate reports that Coinbase Derivatives submitted rules covering futures on individual equities and ETF shares, including contracts with no fixed expiration date. Because the products would settle in cash, gains and losses would be paid in money rather than through the delivery of stock.

That distinction is important. A trader could gain or lose money as the referenced security moves, but would not become a shareholder, receive voting rights, or take custody of the underlying shares.

The structure would bring one of crypto’s most popular trading formats closer to traditional markets. Perpetual futures are built to remain open rather than reaching a standard expiration date, while recurring funding payments help keep the contract near the price of the asset it tracks.

Coinbase described the proposed access as 24/5, extending through most of the weekday rather than following the shorter core session of a conventional stock exchange. The filing still allows for pauses, suspensions, and regulatory trading halts.

Those longer hours could appeal to traders who already expect crypto markets to operate around the clock. They also introduce a harder question: whether liquidity will remain deep enough outside normal market hours for prices and order execution to hold up under stress.

The official SEC notice, posted September 18 under file number SR-COIN-2026-002, describes rules for cash-settled futures on individual equity securities and ETF shares, including perpetual contracts. It is a public step in the rule process, not evidence that the contracts have cleared every required review.

CryptoSlate reported that the CFTC product register continued to show the single-stock perpetual contract as “Approval Pending” on September 22. Until that status changes and final contract terms are supplied, claims that the product has launched would be premature.

That regulatory gap is the real story. Coinbase already operates a U.S. perpetual-futures market for crypto.

Moving the format into single stocks would put the exchange deeper into territory long occupied by traditional brokerages and futures venues.

The filing also fits Coinbase’s broader push beyond spot crypto trading. The company has been using the phrase “Everything Exchange” as it adds products that connect digital assets with more familiar parts of the financial system, including access to initial public offerings.

Single-stock perpetuals would be a major addition to that strategy because they combine a crypto-native contract design with some of the most widely followed assets in traditional finance.

For now, investors should separate the direction of travel from the product’s actual status.

Coinbase has filed. The rules describe how the market could work.

The company has publicly said what it wants to build.

The CFTC still holds the gate.

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